Michigan Technological University sponsors US Forest Service Passport in Time Site

MTU-Professor,-Dr.-LouAnn-Wurst-instructs-members-of-the-PIT-crewIn August 2016, the Hiawatha National Forest partnered with Michigan Technological University sponsored a Passport In Time (PIT) project at the former logging settlement of Coalwood. The site was occupied by Finnish Immigrant families who cut cordwood for the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company between 1900 and 1912.  One goal of the project was to assess the damage caused by recent looting activities.

In an image provided by PIT, Professor LouAnn Wurst instructs members of the PIT Crew.

G.R.A.C.E Project Featured in National GIS Publication

TimetravelerKeweenaw Time Traveler and National Park Service received media attention for their NSF-ITEST GRACE Project collaboration in Directions Magazine, a national GIS periodical.  The article, G.R.A.C.E Project team creates ‘time machine’ with GIS, outlines some of the detail of the summer career education program that brought local high school students to work with the KHNP and the Keweenaw Time Traveler team as paid interns.

 

 

PhD Research Assistantship Opportunity

Energy Conservation PhD Research Assistantships at Michigan Technological University – Drs. Chelsea Schelly and Kathleen Halvorsen seek motivated applicants for two fully funded three-year research assistantship positions available for students pursuing a PhD in Environmental and Energy Policy at Michigan Technological University (MTU).

 Students will be involved in a National Science Foundation Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water (NSF INFEWS) funded interdisciplinary research project.  The project focuses on understanding and seeking ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through conservation of household-scale food, energy, and water. FEW PhD Position Description-1

Department Employment Opportunities

Positions currently available in the Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Tech:

Assistant Professor of Environmental/Energy Justice – Tenure Track  –    The Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University invites applications for an Assistant Professor to join an interdisciplinary social sciences faculty. We seek a scholar specializing in environmental and/or energy justice. Candidates with strengths in policy analysis and/or spatial methodologies are especially encouraged to apply.   Assistant Professor Environment_Energy Justic

Post Doctoral Position in Bioenergy Development and Sustainability     The Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University invites applications for a one-and-a-half year Post–Doctoral Fellowship, beginning on or about January 1, 2017, focused on the socioecological impacts of sustainable bioenergy development across the Americas.  MTU PIRE SE Post-Doc

Lafreniere Co-PI on Grant Tracing Early French Canadian Migration and Settlement Patterns

ljdrc6Don Lafreniere (SS/GLRC) is Co-Pi on a partnership development grant that has received $197,500 from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The project, “Nouveaux regards sur l’occupation du continent nord-am-ricain par la population canadienne-fran-aise 1760-1914,” is tracing the migration and settlement patterns of French-Canadians from Quebec across the North American continent, including the establishment of communities in the Upper Peninsula. This is a two-year project.

From Tech Today.

On the Road

Keweenaw Time TravelerDon Lafreniere and John Arnold, along with two Copper Country high school students, recently presented a paper at the 22nd Annual Michigan Communities GIS conference held in Boyne Falls, Michigan Sept. 6-8. The presentation highlighted the work of eleven local high school students who partnered with Michigan Tech’s Historical Environments Spatial Analytics Lab and the Keweenaw National Historical Park in their work building GIS datasets, webmap-based National Park visitor guides and learning mobile GIS data collection and analysis in conjunction with the Keweenaw Time Traveler project.

From Tech Today.

Schelly Co-PI on the Project “Reducing Household Food, Energy and Water Consumption: A Quantitative Analysis of Interventions and Impacts of Conservation”

Chelsea Schelly
Chelsea Schelly

Dave Watkins is the principal investigator on a research and development project that has received a $1,477,068 grant from the National Science Foundation. Buyung Agusdinata, Chelsea Schelly, Rachael Shwom and Jenni-Louise Evans are co-PIs on the project, “Reducing Household Food, Energy and Water Consumption: A Quantitative Analysis of Interventions and Impacts of Conservation.”

This project starts on Oct. 1 and is scheduled to finish in 2021.

From Tech Today.

 

Vaidya Published on the Sustainability of Woody Biomass

vaidya
Ashma Vaidya

Ashma Vaidya, who graduated in summer 2016 with a PhD in Environmental and Energy Policy, has published three papers on the sustainability of woody biomass in the UP for bioenergy:

Vaidya A and AL Mayer. 2014. Use of the participatory approach to develop sustainability assessments for natural resource management. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 21(4):369-379.

Vaidya A and AL Mayer. 2016. Use of multiple criteria analysis to develop a regional assessment tool for bioenergy production. Biomass and Bioenergy 94:1-11.

Vaidya A and AL Mayer. In press. Criteria and indicators for a bioenergy production industry via stakeholder participation. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology. DOI:10.1080/13504509.2015.1135830

Contact Audrey Mayer for reprints.

From Tech Today.